"Titans: Legacies"
Chapter 5: "Recovery and Reprisal"
Disclaimer: Most of the characters depicted here belong to DC Comics and Time Warner, not to me.
Author's note: When last we left off, most of the Titans were in pretty bad shape and Olivia Queen had just encountered her mother's onetime ward Sin. What does Sin want with Olivia? How will the adult heroes deal with what has befallen their would-be successors? Will the Titans recover from this first volley of attacks? For the answers to those questions and others, read on.
"Talk about what?" Olivia asked.
"The League of Assassins," Sin replied. "They've made an alliance with Deathstroke."
"Deathstroke? Why?"
"It only makes sense. Both of them have their reasons to hate your parents."
"And yet those two archers came after me."
"For Oni, it's more personal. For Quincy, it's just a matter of what he's been assigned to do."
Just then, Olivia's cell phone rang. Olivia looked at the screen, seeing Lian's name on it. She quickly answered. "Hello?"
"Olivia . . . I'm in the Justice Society's infirmary," Lian replied. "It's pretty bad. The others, they –"
"They got attacked, too?" Olivia asked. "Who attacked them?"
"I only know who attacked Cerdian, because she came after me, too," Lian answered. "As for the others . . . I still don't know yet, but I'm going to find out and then they're going to pay."
"I'll help," Olivia stated simply.
"Good to hear," Lian replied. "I'd like my favorite cousin by my side. Come as fast as you can."
The tone that followed let Olivia know that the call had ended. Olivia put her cell phone away and looked at Sin. "They came after the other Titans, too."
"Be careful, sister," Sin advised. "They are not people to be trifled with."
Olivia chuckled. "Neither am I." She smiled. "I'd better see the others. Feel free to let yourself out."
In the Justice Society infirmary, Superman was looking at X-rays taken of Superboy by Dr. Mid-Nite. "Phantom Zone technology embedded in sunstones and then implanted inside him. I knew Zod was ruthless, but I didn't know he'd do this to his own son."
"These implants are like nothing I've ever seen before," Dr. Mid-Nite said. "But I suppose that's really how General Zod was able to use Superboy as an anchor to the material world all those years ago."
"Can we take them out?" Superman asked.
"Without killing him?" Dr. Mid-Nite added. "No. The implants have integrated with his neuromuscular structure over time; they're as essential to his living as his organic parts. Take them out, and he's as good as dead."
"Will he be all right?"
"Yes. He's healing quite well. He should be awake at any moment."
"What about the others?"
"We managed to stop Damian's blood loss; he should be waking up sooner or later. Mar'i's surgery was successful and she should be ok as well. It's Cerdian and Wally's twins that aren't so fortunate."
"What's wrong with them?"
Dr. Mid-Nite sighed. "Cerdian was imbued with corrupted Olympian magic and it's having a toxic effect on his Atlantean magic, which is in turn having a toxic effect on his body. While it enhances him when he uses it, the corrosive long-term effects on his body and psyche can't be ignored."
"And Iris and Jai?"
"Beaten to the edge of death. Iris is even worse off because she overtaxed her powers."
Superman looked at Dr. Mid-Nite. "You mean she attempted to stay charged up longer than it was safe for her to do so."
"That particular battle must have been tougher than we could have imagined, for her to risk that."
Superman looked in the window into the resting area of the infirmary, seeing Lian sitting next to Cerdian's bed, holding his hand. It never ceased to amaze him, the intensity of Lian's feelings for the younger boy. While some would call it unseemly for a girl on the verge of legal adulthood to date someone who would just be starting high school, he couldn't deny that they really did love each other.
"Will they be all right?" he finally asked.
"I don't think so," Dr. Mid-Nite replied. "While their metabolisms are trying to heal them, the injuries they've suffered are too extensive. If they live, they'll be crippled. If they don't . . ."
"Have you told Wally?"
"He hasn't come back yet. He's looking for the ones that did this to his children."
Meanwhile, Rose Wilson was standing out on the balcony of the apartment where she lived with her brother Joey when she felt a breeze. She turned and saw a young man garbed in cream with a lightning-edged red stripe running down the center of his uniform. Red fingerless gloves and boots with thick buckles covered his hands and feet and a red open cowl with goggle-like yellow lenses covered the upper half of his face.
"Impulse?" she wondered.
"I've come back to you, Rose," "Impulse" whispered. "I had to. It's you I love. It's you I've always loved. And I know . . . you've always loved me."
"Bart . . ." Rose uttered. Then she got a good look at him, specifically the hair sticking out of the top of his cowl. It was blond . . . and neater than Bart's hair had ever been. She narrowed her eyes furiously. "You're not Bart. Who are you?"
"Impulse" chuckled and quick-changed into a similar outfit, only colored black and green instead of cream and red. "Inertia."
Rose rushed at Inertia, aiming a fast punch for his face. Inertia dodged the punch and grabbed Rose's outstretched arm, twisting it behind her back. Rose thrust her free arm back at Inertia in a chop, only for Inertia to catch that and pin it in front of her.
"I have no idea what you saw in Bart Allen," Inertia whispered harshly. "I'm ten times better than he ever was."
"No," Rose retorted harshly. "You're ten times lesser than him." She stomped on his foot with her heel and then slammed her elbow into his gut fast enough to slip past his guard. Inertia recovered and zoomed at her for a clothesline, only for Rose to bend over backwards to evade his arm. Rose went into a backwards handspring and slid into a low kick aimed to trip Inertia, who simply sped behind her and put her in a chokehold.
Rose slammed her elbow into Inertia's groin, forcing him to let go of her. She tumbled backward and into a kick to Inertia's chin, while another wind – this one harsher – could be felt. Rose looked and saw the Flash with his hands wrapped around Inertia's throat.
"Go after my kids? My kids?!" he screamed. "Do you even know who I am?! What I'll do?!"
Suddenly, Wally's eyes glowed green and he let go of Inertia's throat. "Joey, what are you doing?"
Stopping you from doing something you'll regret for the rest of your life, Joey answered in his thoughts. You're not a killer, Wally. Don't let Inertia make you one.
"He went after my kids!" Wally yelled. "And he just came after Rose!"
It doesn't mean we become killers. We are supposed to be better than that.
Inertia looked from Wally to Rose to Wally again. "I don't know what stopped you, but you're going to regret not following through. In the meantime, see to your brats. You're going to have to bury them soon."
He sped away and Wally wanted with every inch of his being to follow Inertia and kill him, but Joey's presence in his body was currently preventing him from doing so. "Let me go."
So you can kill Inertia? No thanks. You're staying here until you're calmed down.
"Let me see my kids," Wally pleaded.
That I can do, Joey answered, releasing himself from Wally's body. Wally looked at Joey crossly.
"Don't ever do that again, ok?"
Joey nodded and signed, I'll stay with Rose.
"Thanks, Joey, but I'm perfectly fine," Rose answered.
Physically, Joey signed.
"And what does that mean?"
Joey just looked at her somberly and turned to Wally . . . only Wally was gone. Like Batman . . .
When Wally reached the Justice Society's infirmary, he found Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Garth, and Donna Troy there looking over the still-bedridden Titans. Olivia, Lian, and Dolphin were there, too, and Lian and Dolphin were on literally opposite ends of Cerdian, who wore a breathing mask that pumped water vapor into his lungs. It didn't escape Wally's notice that Dolphin was glaring at Lian and vice versa, but then Dolphin had never liked the Titans.
"What's going on?" Wally asked. "Any change?"
"Damian's awake," Dick replied. "And we know who did this to them."
"Who?" Wally asked.
"Slade," Roy spat. "He put together a team to take out our kids."
Dolphin's glare remained fixed on Lian, as though she saw the younger female as the source of all her troubles. As far as Dolphin was concerned, she was. If it wasn't for the little air-breather slut seducing her son, he never would have been in that kind of danger in the first place. Now he was lying helplessly in bed, being slowly killed by evil magic, and that girl dared to sit by his side as though she really gave a damn about him at all.
"Stop it, Dolphin," Garth whispered. "It's not Lian's fault this happened to Cerdian."
"No, it's yours," Dolphin answered bitterly. "If you hadn't introduced him to your Titan friends, then he'd have never met Harper's girl and he'd be safe in Atlantis."
"Hey!" Roy cut in. "I get that you're worried about your kid, just as worried as I'd be about Lian if she were in his place, but that doesn't give you the right to insult us."
"She isn't in his place," Dolphin retorted. "In fact, it's because of her that he's in this place. He should have been recovering back home, but instead he charges out with evil magic burning him alive from inside to protect her."
"Because they love each other," Donna interceded. "Plain and simple."
"I think . . . I know a way to save him," Garth said.
"What is it?" Lian asked.
"I can isolate Lyta's curse and seal it away," Garth replied. "It should force the curse into remission and he'll be able to recover."
"Will it work?" Donna asked.
"It should," Garth replied, beginning to outline Cerdian's body with Atlantean runes. As soon as he finished, his eyes glowed purple and the runes glowed as well. He grabbed Cerdian's wrist, where the spidery mark was, and the runes floated off the bed and fused to Cerdian before "melting" into his body. Cerdian's body twitched on the bed, going into small spasms, but Garth held him down until the spasms ceased.
Immediately, some color came to Cerdian's face, causing both Lian and Dolphin to sigh with relief. His eyes, a glimmering purple, opened. "Hi . . ."
"Cerdian!" Lian greeted, hugging him tightly. Cerdian returned the hug, holding back his strength so that he didn't hurt her too much. Dolphin scowled at the happy couple, but otherwise didn't say a word.
Just then, Damian interrupted. "What about Mar'i and Chris? Are they all right?"
"They're recovering just fine," Donna replied.
Damian got out of bed, detaching himself from the monitors, and walked to Mar'i's bed. He stared down at her sleeping face, so peaceful. He wished she would wake up. He wished she would wake up so that he could know that she was all right. He wished she would wake up so that he could know that she was alive. He wished she would wake up so that her life and light could fill the room . . . and brighten the corners of his blighted psyche.
He looked past Mar'i and saw Superboy, his eyes beginning to open. Damian moved over to him, Dick following him. "Hi."
"Hey," Superboy replied. "Where's Dad?"
"He was here before, but he had to leave to do his patrol of Metropolis," Dick answered. "He was pretty worried about you."
"He always worries," Superboy remarked quietly.
"Who did this to you?" Damian asked.
"A girl calling herself Ultrawoman," Superboy replied. "She was . . . so strong. And so vicious. It was . . . inhuman."
"She can't hurt you anymore," Dick said.
"No," Superboy answered somberly, "but she can hurt someone else. I can't let that happen." He started to climb out of bed, with Dick and Damian simultaneously reaching out to hold him back. Superboy gently but firmly pushed past them. "I can't let her hurt anybody else."
"You're not up to full strength yet," Dick warned.
"No, but I know a way I can use more of what I've got," Superboy answered.
"You're not talking about what I think you're talking about, are you?" Damian asked.
"Yes," Superboy confirmed grimly.
"You can't," Damian snarled. "You know what that type of Kryptonite does to you."
"I know. It makes me more ruthless, and ruthless is something I need to be if I'm going to beat her."
"You don't have to sink to her level," Dick said.
"Who says I'm going to? I just have to beat her and then I'll take the damn thing off."
"Who says you'll want to take it off? It's like a drug; the rush of power and invincibility will make you want to keep it," Damian retorted.
"She beat me almost to death. I did everything I could . . . and none of it worked. She just kept coming. She was too strong, too fast, too brutal, and too relentless for me to stop her."
"So that's what this is about," Damian sneered. "She made you feel helpless. For all your power, when you met someone stronger than you, there was nothing you could do to stop her. She humiliated you."
"That's not it. She has to be stopped before she can hurt more people."
"Very true, but wouldn't it be nice if you could give her a taste of your own medicine, make her feel the same terror you did?" Damian went on, his voice darkly honeyed. "And you can't do that as 'the heir of Superman.' But you can do it as Lore, can't you?"
"It doesn't matter!" Superboy exploded. "She has to be stopped! She's a killer, a vicious, murderous sociopath and I'm going to make sure she never hurts anyone again!" He sped out of the infirmary, moving too fast for normal human eyes to detect, but not too fast for Wally or Donna.
"I'll catch him," Wally said, speeding after Superboy. "Hey! You are aware that you're barely wearing anything, right?!"
"I'll get something to wear," Superboy retorted.
"Not the point!" Wally shouted. "You're gonna do something you'll regret! I'm just here to make sure you don't go through with it!"
"Just let me get dressed first," Superboy answered, reaching the apartment where he lived with Clark Kent and Lois Lane. He slipped inside at super-speed, dressed himself at super-speed, and exited at super-speed. When he exited, he was dressed in a black-and-blood-red motorcycle jacket over a tight black T-shirt and black leather pants with black combat boots.
"You look like you're going to some vampire club," Wally remarked dryly.
"No . . ." Chris Kent answered darkly. "I'm going to hell. And Ultrawoman's my date."
"You've been watching too many gritty action movies," Wally commented. "What would Clark say?"
Chris glared at Wally, his eyes beginning to glow at the edges. "You're not going to stop me."
"You've been running instead of flying, so I think you do want me to stop you."
"Really? See if you can stop this." Chris suddenly moved into a blurring run, the blur worsened by a warping aura surrounding him. Wally sped after Chris, trying to keep up with him, but Chris seemed to be so much faster than he'd been before. That didn't matter; he had to stop the Kryptonian teen before he did something stupid . . . and possibly spank him for being such a presumptuous brat when he did catch up to him.
That warping aura's got something to do with him being so fast, Wally thought. It's like he's not quite in the same zone as I am.
Wally accelerated, pushing himself to move faster in order to grab Chris, who simply moved even faster. Finally, Chris seemed to vanish altogether, leaving Wally dismayed. What the hell am I gonna tell Clark?
Chris materialized in the Batcave, looking for the supply of Kryptonite Paladin kept there. He knew Paladin had red Kryptonite somewhere among the samples and he needed it. He just hoped he could do it before Paladin or Batman came back; he didn't need the headache of them trying to stop him. Thus, he sat in front of the massive computer and applied his "super-brain" to hacking into it so he could discover the location of the Kryptonite.
It took him fifteen minutes, but he managed to wrangle the location of the Kryptonite out of the computer. He stood up from the computer and moved to get at the Kryptonite when he walked into Tim. Literally, and Tim didn't look all that pleased. That was perfectly understandable, of course; Chris had broken into the cave and was trying to steal from it.
"Tim. Move."
"No. You move."
Chris shifted between dimensions, emerging on the other side near the Kryptonite supply. He opened the case, only to suddenly be overwhelmed with pain from the green Kryptonite. He knew there was some red Kryptonite in there and he needed to grab it. Thus, fighting off utter agony, he reached into the Kryptonite supply and pulled out a small red Kryptonite rock.
"Did it . . ." he snarled, just as Tim had arrived to stop him.
"Chris, put that back now," Tim ordered.
Chris glared at Tim with glowing red eyes. "You're not the boss of me." He slipped the red Kryptonite into his shirt pocket and pressed it hard against his skin, almost as though he were trying to embed it inside him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I wasn't strong enough before. Because I wasn't ruthless enough before. Now I am . . . and she's dust."
He dimensionally shifted again, leaving Tim alone in the Batcave. He figured Tim had come back from patrol early, possibly alerted by Wally. Well, he'd have to do something about Wally when all was said and done, but right now Ultrawoman was going to receive a taste of her own medicine. And bitter medicine it would be.
What serendipity it turned out to be, when he spotted his adoptive father fighting Ultrawoman, who seemed to be giving him a tough time. Superman, might Rao damn his cowardly soul, was making the same mistakes Chris had made without the red Kryptonite. Worrying about the safety of others, worrying about that pathetic code against killing, and Ultrawoman was taking advantage of those worries. It was high time she met someone who could fight her on an even playing field.
"Stand back, 'Dad,'" Chris sneered. "She's mine now."
"Superboy!" Superman shouted. "What are you doing here?"
"Payback," Chris replied cruelly. "And it's Lore."
That said, he flew straight up into Ultrawoman's face with a vicious uppercut, knocking her higher into the air. Ultrawoman righted herself in midair, smirking cruelly. "Whaddaya know, the little p#$$ can throw a punch after all! Where'd you get the balls for something like that?"
Lore chuckled sadistically and popped sunstone claws from the back of each knuckle. "You're going to die." As Ultrawoman dived toward him, Lore slashed at her with his claws, only for Ultrawoman to catch his wrist. Undeterred, Lore simply twisted into a vicious kick to her face, following up by stabbing her in her bare belly with his claws and twisting the blades. Ultrawoman smirked at him.
"I like your foreplay."
"Prepare to like it a lot less," Lore snarled, just before Ultrawoman pushed him off her, the claws wetly sliding out of her stomach.
"What are you doing, Superboy?" Superman asked, trying to hold him back.
"F#$ off," Lore snarled, teleporting out of Superman's grip. "Ultrawoman's going to die and I'm the one who's going to do it."
"Me? Die? You must be joking," Ultrawoman sneered, firing a blast of heat vision at Lore, who retaliated with a heat vision blast of his own. The two beams of heat collided and pushed against each other. As the heat grew in intensity, the sky began to sear and turn red. The more each combatant poured into their attack, the hotter the sky grew.
Suddenly, Superman materialized between both combatants, punching them both hard to make them stop, the heat vision fizzling out. "That is enough! You were going to get everyone on this planet burned alive!"
"Who cares?" Ultrawoman sneered. "It's the fact that you worry so much about those weaklings that makes you so weak. And really . . . my dad hits harder than you!!"
She flew right in front of Superman at hyper-speed, backhanding him so hard he crashed to the ground. Superman tasted blood in his mouth and dodged Ultrawoman's next attack, grabbing her by the wrist and tossing her into the sky. She twisted in midair and into a kick to Lore, who blocked it with a sunstone spike protruding from his wrist, impaling her foot. Ultrawoman pulled her foot off and delivered a fast roundhouse kick with her healthier foot, which Lore grabbed and twisted. Ultrawoman attempted to head-butt him, but Lore punched her square in the nose.
Lore popped a sunstone spike out of his wrist, prepared to impale Ultrawoman's heart on it when two pairs of strong arms grabbed him and pulled him off her. "Get. The. F#$. Off. Of. Me. Now."
Superwoman and Power Woman looked at him sternly. "I don't know what you're thinking, Superboy, but this isn't a path you want to walk," Superwoman said.
"What she said, plus if you keep acting like this, we're gonna have to spank you," Power Woman added.
"Everyone keeps getting in my way!" Lore screamed, popping sunstone spikes out of his arms to force Superwoman and Power Woman off him. He locked eyes with Ultrawoman. "DIE!!!"
Just before Lore could land the killing blow, Superman punched him, sending him crashing to the ground. "I'm sorry, Christopher," he whispered, "but I can't let you become a killer."
"My name isn't Christopher," Lore snarled as he got up. He flew back up and delivered a ferocious kick to Superman's midsection. Superwoman and Power Woman were immediately on him, Lore brutally fighting them off. Heat vision blasts were deflected by crossed sunstone blades, and then Lore flew at the two Kryptonian women with those same sunstone blades extended.
"Red K," Superwoman deduced.
"Kid's insane if he's messing with that stuff," Power Woman muttered, catching Lore's arm and breaking off his sunstone blade. Superwoman did the same with his other arm, just as Superman flew in front of them.
"Stop this, Christopher," Superman ordered. "Now."
"I'm not stopping until she's dead!" Lore snarled. He teleported again, this time materializing behind Ultrawoman, who elbowed him hard in the midsection and flipped him over her shoulder. Lore quickly recovered and punched Ultrawoman in the face with small sunstone spikes on his knuckles. Ultrawoman glared at him with a bloody face and fired another blast of heat vision at him, one which he deflected with another sunstone blade.
Team Superman was on both combatants in a flash, neither teen reacting favorably to their interference. "I'll kill you . . ." Lore snarled at Ultrawoman. ". . . but right now, I want them out of the way of our fight."
"Ah, I get it," Ultrawoman purred. "Truce, and then we go back to beating the f#$ out of each other. Sounds good."
"Let's do it," Lore snarled.
"You brat," Power Woman groaned. "Now you're definitely getting that spanking."
End Notes: There you have it. Superboy has been driven to the dark side of the proverbial Force by his desire to defeat Ultrawoman and now they're working together to take down those who would interfere with their fight. Will Team Superman be able to shake Superboy to his senses? Will Ultrawoman be defeated? Will Excel, Impulse, and Nightstar fully recover from their injuries? For the answers to those questions and others, read on and let me know what you thought of this chapter.
